Then – “Even in lesser seasons on the field, Georgia under Mark Richt has always been able to point to its recruiting. Now, with lesser seasons running together, the program that controlled its state controls it no more. The buzz about this program has been downgraded to a murmur, and the murmur concerns the future of its head coach. Which grows more tenuous by the moment.”

Now – “We say again: With Richt, recruiting has never been the overriding concern.”

“The Newtons would be best to realize they aren’t in college anymore. Regardless of how good he looks for [the media], there isn’t going to be a bidding war for him. We’re not recruiting him. They could wind up turning more people against them than for them with this [workout].”

“Bidding war”? “Recruiting”? Gee, where could he have gotten an impression like that?

I didn’t find Kristi Dosh’s revenue comparison between the SEC and the Big Ten as compelling as her first story on the SEC – for one thing, as she notes, it’s hard to compare apples and oranges here because there’s no direct SEC analogue to the Big Ten Network – but one fact she cited caught my eye.

… A look at Ohio State’s expenses should explain why they’re perennial contenders for BCS bowls. They are spending almost $10 million more than the next biggest spender in the Big Ten (Wisconsin). They’re also spending almost double what their rival, Michigan, is spending, which could perhaps explain the results on the field. [Emphasis added.]

… Collins Moore of Bob Jones is an example of another side of recruiting, where schools say they have accepted more commitments than scholarships they have to give. What follows is pure spin control: We still love you as a player, but just not until next January.

Moore heard those words last weekend. What awful timing. He committed to Ole Miss in August over enviable choices such as Kentucky and LSU. Of course, they no longer have room. He’s scrambling for a Plan B, but will likely wear a grayshirt now.

Of course, if he’d have picked LSU then, there’s no telling that Les wouldn’t have run into math problems of his own later on.

But here’s the other side of that coin. Georgia Tech just lost its fourth recruit in less than two weeks (by the way, nice timing with this puff piece, Mark Bradley) when defensive end Trey Flowers switched his verbal commitment to Arkansas. In doing so, he sounds like he made as cold and calculated a decision as the Nuttster did.

“Yes, I’m excited about Arkansas, but I do feel kind of bad how it ended with Georgia Tech. I probably rushed with my decision to commit [to Georgia Tech] last week. But I did it because I wanted to protect myself with a big-time scholarship. Then a better situation came along for me with Arkansas and I had to take it.”

… Twenty three is exactly where LSU’s recruiting class stands with the commitment Friday of St. Paul’s defensive tackle Mickey Johnson. Actually, he was No. 22, but LSU must also count Cameron Fordham, a grayshirted offensive lineman signed in 2010, against this year’s class.

But also note that there’s some painful notoriety he’s dealing with.

… But there is a fine line to be walked for the Tigers, numerically and politically. Coach Les Miles is still stinging from the bad publicity — he’d probably call it being singled out — by that ESPN Outside the Lines piece on former Tiger quarterback Chris Garrett.

The subject was grayshirting, which is something most schools do. Except most schools don’t get their grayshirts aired like they were dirty laundry.

Then, there’s also the question of whether the NCAA would consider any LSU signees over 23 as a slap in the face when it hasn’t even accepted LSU’s self-imposed penalties yet.

Still, there may be some wiggle room.

So, if LSU is going to take anyone over 23, they had better be worth it. Still, it’s worth it for Miles to take the chance. You can’t turn down top-notch talent now because of some potential backlash. Could it possibly be worse than losing a game because you were missing that one key recruit?

There is one particular recruit who LSU could cut ties with to make room for someone else: Redemptorist running back Jeremy Hill.

Hill was arrested earlier this month on a charge of oral sexual battery with a 14-year-old female student at RHS. Despite that, LSU is still apparently willing to accept his letter of intent Wednesday.

If that ain’t your quintessential 2011 recruiting dilemma in a nutshell (see how I did that?), I don’t know what is.

Q: There has been a sharp increase in coaching salaries in the last 10 years. Did you see that coming?

A: Not really. People say, “How did you not see it coming?” I remember in the mid- to late-90s, the top salary was in the $1.2 to $1.3, $1.4 (million) range in college football. Now it’s three to four times that. I don’t know if I ever saw it coming like that. What you’ve got to look at … is that it coincides with the way the revenues expand. I’ve always said this over and over again — businesses won’t pay more than they can afford to pay, or they don’t stay in business very long. College sports, pro sports, they’re big businesses nowadays. They’re not going to pay more to a coach than they can afford to pay.

People say, “These salaries are out of whack.” Well, are they out of whack? Then why to they keep paying them? I think you’ve got to look at it that way. At some point if they get to be too much, they’ll stop paying them, but I don’t see an end in sight to it right now.

And you wonder why college presidents get their asses kicked by agents? One side sees this as business; the other wants to see it as an extension of academia. One side embraces the power of the market place; the other wrings their hands and rails against the laws of supply and demand. It’s not exactly a fair fight.

Quote Of The Day

“Being a student at Georgia and playing ball, I’ve definitely grown, widened my horizons and experienced things I never thought I would. I feel like I’ve grown on and off the field, and the university prepared me for that. I’ve done some awesome things and met some awesome people. I’ll definitely be back to finish my schoolwork, because that was a big priority for me and my family and weighed heavily on my decision. I know football won’t last forever. It’ll be great to come back and get that degree, so I can tell my kids about it one day.” — Roquan Smith, AJ-C, 3/7/18